Dr. Louis Creed and his wife, Rachel, relocate from Boston to rural Maine with their two young children. The couple soon discover a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near their new home.
I’m probably showing my age here but I remember going to see the original “Pet Sematary” at the Carlton Cinema in Dublin in 1989. I’ve been a big horror fan since I was 12 years of age so back in ’89 I was excited about seeing “Pet Sematary” on the big screen. Lo and behold, I was disappointed that a) the film wasn’t scary in the least and b) it was a by-the-numbers, stereotypical horror movie riding on the coattails of Stephen King’s far superior novel. Imagine my surprise when I got to attend the press screening for the new iteration starring Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, and John Lithgow, only to find that this carbon copy was even worse than the tepid original.
Directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer have a vast library of Stephen King books that they could have adapted, even remaking far superior films like “Cujo” or “Firestarter” but why they chose to remake a movie that was never scary or very interesting to begin with, I will never know. A reanimated zombie cat is not very frightening, even in the 1989 film adaptation so why they thought it would work today is beyond me.
Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) and his wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz) and two children, Ellie (Jeté Laurence) and Gage move from the hustle and bustle of Boston for the quiet country life in the small town of Ludlow, Maine. Upon arriving, they meet their elderly neighbor Jud (John Lithgow) and become friends. Once settled, while Louis is at work, Rachel and Ellie come across a procession in the woods behind their house led by kids in animal masks, carrying the corpse of a deceased cat. Jud sees them and tells them that the children in town come to the cemetery to bury the dead bodies of their beloved pets after they pass away. He warns Ellie not to go walking too far as she might get lost. Time goes by and the family gets on with their lives until one day, Jud discovers the dead body of Church, Ellie’s pet cat, lying in a ditch. He informs Louis and later that night the two men make their way deep into the woods to bury Church. When Jud asks Louis if Ellie loved her cat, Louis tells him yes, he was her whole world. Upon hearing that, they venture even deeper into the woods where they come across an ancient Micmac burial ground. Jud informs Louis to bury the cat in a particular spot and cover it up with sacred rocks. Then they leave. When Louis returns home, he tells Rachel what happened and they both agree to tell Ellie that Church simply ran off.
The next day, when they try to have that conversation with her, she tells them that Church never ran away and is in the closet. Upon further inspection, Louis opens the door to find Church sitting down, staring at him. He looks nothing like he did before, he is now disheveled, stinks, and begins to randomly attack members of the family. When he confronts Jud about it, he proceeds to tell him that the location where they buried the cat is ancient Indian burial ground and that the malevolent forces there have the power to reanimate the dead. He figured that because Ellie loved Church so much that she would want to have him back. Louis finds himself conflicted as he does not believe in life after death but seeing his resurrected cat gives him pause for thought. After Church attacks and scratches Ellie, she refuses to let him stay in her room any more and fed up with the random attacks, Louis cages up Church, drives to an abandoned spot in the woods and lets him run free. A few days later it is Ellie’s birthday and during the celebration, all the kids decide to play hide and seek and while Ellie is hiding in the trees near the main road, she turns to see Church approaching her. She runs out to greet him and her younger brother Gage follows her, unaware of the oncoming speeding truck. Louis sees this and runs to the road, managing to grab Gage within seconds of being hit but the truck driver, distracted by his cell phone, looks up at the last minute to see Ellie standing in the middle of the road and slams on his brakes. The truck jackknifes and the trailer plows into Ellie, killing her instantly.
After Ellie’s funeral, Rachel takes Gage and moves back to the city with her parents, unable to deal with the grief, with Louis stating that he will pack up the house and follow her shortly. Later that evening, a grief-stricken Louis talks with Jud and he has the uneasy feeling that Louis is going to dig up Ellie’s body and take her deep into the woods and warns him against such an idea. Louis says he has no intentions of doing so but when Jud is not looking, he drugs his drink so he won’t interfere with his plans and leaves, making his way to the cemetery. After exhuming Ellie’s body, he makes his way back to the Indian burial ground, digging a hole and covering her body just like he did Church and the next day when he wakes up, she is in the house but like Church before her, she is not the same. He quickly comprehends the terrible mistake he has made but realizes that it is too late!
There is absolutely nothing intriguing about this rendition and to be quite honest, it should never have been made. I read part of the book back in the day and for what it was, it worked, as a novel but there are some stories that are best left on the page. Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz are sorely underused, two actors who I feel are very underrated and even the great John Lithgow is out of his element here, reduced to spouting off unimaginative and unintentionally hilarious lines of dialogue, while trying to keep a straight face. Only once did the movie pique my interest and that happens when Louis is on his way to bury Ellie in the woods. He looks across the fog-laden forest only to see what appears to be a large tree demon, standing in amongst the trees but is then engulfed by the eerie mist that surrounds it. At this point in the movie, I wished the camera had followed this creature instead as it would have made for a far more interesting tale but instead, we get to watch the last uninspiring act of the film. Upon leaving the theater, I could only hope that there would not be a “Pet Sematary Two” as the original “Pet Sematary Two” was even worse than the original.
In theaters Friday, April 5th
